Congo’s rebels say they’re poised to seize eastern city

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Congo’s rebels say they’re poised to seize eastern city

Rwandan-backed rebels laying siege to eastern Congo’s largest city Goma have ordered government forces to disarm and surrender, saying they are preparing to enter and take control.

The M23 rebels have made lightning advances in January in Democratic Republic of Congo’s mineral-rich, conflict-riven eastern borderlands and launched an assault on Goma earlier this week.

By Sunday evening, M23 fighters had pushed past Munigi, an outlying neighbourhood around nine kilometres from the city centre, three sources told Reuters.

The rapidly deepening conflict is aggravating one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and has raised fears the fighting could spill over into a broader regional war.

****** Ngoma, a spokesman for M23, told Reuters the rebels were planning to seize Goma at 3am local time (noon AEDT) on Monday.

“We gave the (Congolese forces) a 48-hour ultimatum to lay down their arms. The ultimatum has already passed, so we say that they can deposit their military equipment at (UN mission) MONUSCO,” he said.

He added that surrendering government soldiers were to assemble at one of the city’s stadiums ahead of the deadline. A second rebel spokesman posted on social media platform X that all boat traffic on Lake Kivu was suspended.

City residents reported hearing scattered gunfire in different areas after nightfall, but it was unclear who was shooting or whether fighting was continuing.

Most of Goma, meanwhile, was plunged into darkness due to a power cut.

With the rebels appearing poised to seize Goma, the United Nations Security Council met earlier on Sunday to discuss the crisis, in which three UN peacekeepers – a Uruguayan and two South Africans – have been killed in the last two days.

Addressing the council via video link, the head of the UN mission in Congo Bintou Keita said M23 and supporting Rwandan forces had penetrated the outer edges of the city.

“Roads are blocked and the airport can no longer be used for evacuation or humanitarian efforts. M23 has declared the airspace over Goma closed,” she said.

“In other words, we are trapped.”

The United States, France and Britain on Sunday condemned what they said was Rwanda’s backing of the rebel advance. Kigali has long denied supporting M23.

Rwanda’s UN ambassador Ernest Rwamucyo said his country regretted the deteriorating situation in eastern Congo, but blamed Kinshasa.

“The current crisis could have been averted had (Congo’s) government demonstrated a genuine commitment to peace,” he added.

The eastern borderlands of Congo, a country roughly the size of western Europe, remain a tinder-box of rebel zones and militia fiefdoms in the wake of two successive regional wars stemming from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide.

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